This invention relates to cakes. More specifically, the present invention relates to cakes that can be pre-mixed and frozen at one point in time and then later baked in an oven so that the cakes are fresh when served. The present invention provides an improved container in which pre-mixed cake batter can be deposited, frozen, stored and even shipped to another location.
Chefs, homemakers and virtually anyone who eats dessert all understand that cake tastes best when it is warm and fresh from the oven. Restaurants want to serve pleasing products to their patrons. Homemakers take pride in the quality of the food they serve their families. Both restaurants and homemakers encounter difficulties when it comes to serving cake.
The survival of many restaurants is dependent upon their ability to serve a large volume of customers at a reasonable price. Customers will not return if the service is too slow, the food is not tasty, or they were charged too much for the food they were served. This presents certain challenges for restaurant operators. They must efficiently provide food of an acceptable high quality to their patrons. This challenge is particularly difficult when it comes to serving desserts and particularly cakes. The shelf life of a baked cake is relatively short. Cakes quickly become stale. Cakes also occupy a significant amount of space and are relatively fragile. Customers will not be pleased if they are served a piece of cake that is either stale or crushed.
Homemakers face a different set of challenges. In many households there is only one adult. In households where there are two adults, both often work. Baking cakes from scratch or even using a cake mix requires a significant amount of set up, baking and clean-up time. Homemakers often cannot find the time it takes to bake a cake to serve as a dessert at dinner given the time pressures they are under working, raising a family and taking care of the home.
In view of the foregoing, it is clear that both restaurants and homemakers share a real desire to be able to serve freshly baked cakes with meals. They also share a need to be able to serve such cakes in a very time effective manner.
Over the past 50 years, the way food is marketed in America has changed drastically. Most restaurants are now part of a company-owned chain or are franchises. Similarly, supermarkets are more often than not operated as part of a chain or franchise. Corporations that operate chains and franchises must have consistent quality from store location to store location. Customers need to know what to expect in terms of quality whenever they enter a chain store or franchise.
Maintaining consistent quality is often difficult when supermarkets and restaurants sell baked goods. Differences in the quality of baked products can arise in such situations for at least two reasons. First, differences in the quality of the ingredients will result in differences in the final product. Second, differences in the capabilities and skills exercised by personnel involved in selecting, measuring and mixing the ingredients can affect the quality of the final product.
A variety of frozen or refrigerated, prepackaged, heat and serve products are now on the market. Some are marketed to restaurants. Others are marketed to homemakers. However, there still are no high quality, frozen, prepackaged bake and serve cakes on the market. This is principally because, to date, there has not been an effective way of manufacturing and delivering such cakes to restaurants and homes. Also, real inconsistency exists between the quality of baked products served at different stores operated by chains.
The present invention addresses the needs outlined above by providing a container in which premixed batter can be deposited, frozen, stored, and shipped. Use of the container is ideally suited for chain restaurant and supermarket operations which sell baked goods to ensure uniform quality of baked goods. Ingredients can be acquired and mixed at a central location. The batter can then be placed in the container of the present invention, frozen and then delivered to the restaurants or supermarkets of the chain. When the restaurant or supermarket is ready to sell the baked goods, the bakers at the restaurant or supermarket remove the frozen batter from the container, place it in a baking pan and then bake it in an oven. Set up and clean up are minimal. No mixing is required to occur in the restaurant or supermarket because this all occurred at the central location. Thus, with greater efficiency, baked products of uniform quality can be sold at each retail location operated by the restaurant or supermarket chain. The container of the present invention provides similar advantages for busy homemakers who want to be able to efficiently serve baked items to their families.
The container of the present invention has a variety of features which make it ideal for use with pre-mixed cake batter. The container includes a base, an outer sidewall extending upwardly from the outer edge of the base and an outwardly projecting rim that helps the sidewall maintain its shape. The base and sidewall are each made of a thin, flexible plastic material. Projecting upwardly from the center of the base toward the top of the container is a center post. The center post has a diameter which is approximately ⅓ that of the sidewall so that a trough is formed between the sidewall and the post. The pre-mixed batter is deposited, frozen and stored in the trough.
One unique feature of the container is the design of the post. The post has a wall, a top surface and a frusto-conical depression in the center of the post extending back toward the base of the container.
When the container is used, pre-mixed batter is deposited into the trough and frozen. The container is then covered, for example, by a piece of shrink-wrapped plastic. The cake batter can then be shipped to a supermarket, restaurant, home or other kitchen facility and stored in the container in a frozen state until just before the cake is to be served. The frozen cake batter is then removed from the container, placed in a baking pan, inserted into the oven and baked until done. Once the cake is baked, it can be cut and served hot and fresh.
The design of the container makes it quite easy to remove the frozen batter from the container. Pushing down on the bottom of the frusto-conical depression in the center post causes the base and wall of the post to separate from the frozen batter. Further manipulation serves to separate the sidewall of the container from the frozen batter. Once the surfaces of the container are separated form the batter, the frozen batter is easily removed from the container.